CANCUN 2009!

We arrived home from Cancun a week ago and reality quickly smacked us in the face. All three of us have been battling some kind of sickness. It's miserable. Can I please go back to paradise...even if it's raining??!!

Our trip was wonderful, definitely something we need to spoil ourselves with more often. Being on vacation in a gorgeous place, without the normal hustle and bustle, really gave me a chance to collect my thoughts, put some perspective on my life and focus on the importance of my marriage. Here's a big shout out to the necessity of vacation!

My goal of the trip was to RELAX and not much else. So, in the spirit of relaxing we didn't pick up the camera much, but nonetheless got a few pictures to share. Among all the relaxing, we did go on a zip line tour and zipped over water and land from 12 different zip line posts (no pictures), visited the Mexican flea market to hear "same crap better price" over and over again from the local sellers (no pictures), and ate like pigs (no pictures). Oh, and no pictures of our ultimate day of relaxation when we visited the Sun Palace Day Spa and enjoyed the hydrotherapy circuit and one hour massages!

So, here we go...

Our first morning in Mexico, the perfect view from my beach chair. Sunshine, heat, white sand and pure bliss.

Our hotel, the Sun Palace. Go today, right this minute, you won't regret it. It's a couples only all-inclusive resort with one of the best beaches in Cancun's hotel zone.

My red head, under the umbrella...with a hat...and sunglasses...and a t-shirt. Let's just say he wasn't complaining when the clouds started rolling in (more on that later).

He was fascinated with the local wildlife and snapped this shot. Might have been the only time he picked up the camera!

Us, snuggling in our white hotel robes on our private balcony.

Views from our balcony...not too shabby if I do say so myself.

All dressed up for a fantastic italian dinner at our hotel. Brett had the best filet mignon of his life, so he says. So, we went back our last night there. Don't pay too close attention to Brett's pair of adidas...we packed light and his dress shoes didn't make the cut! :)

On our third day the clouds started rolling in but we still decided to go on a boat tour of Isla Mujeras (Island of Women). It's surrounded by some of the most gorgeous water in the western Caribbean.

A view of the island from our tour boat. The cloud cover hide the gorgeous color of the water. I bet it's stunning on a bright, sunny day.

This is North Beach. It's where all those Corona commercials are filmed, you know the one's where the couple is sitting on their beach chairs staring at the absolutely perfect aqua blue water and white sand (sipping Corona's of course). Again, cloudy so not a good pic.

Here's my honey partaking in the water from the back of our boat. I'll admit I was a party pooper at this point and didn't get in...thought I'd freeze my butt off but Brett said the water was perfect.

Can't visit Mexico without a little tequila, right? Our boat tour turned into a booze cruise of sorts and everyone took their turn pulling off a bottle of a Mexican specialty...lots of tequila with a splash of some red stuff! Our boat guides were hilarious too, doing parodies of the Titanic and blasting American beach music for all the tourists.

Day 4, the rains came and never left. Tropical storm Ida (soon to be Hurricane Ida) was building up strength and dumping buckets on Cancun. Cancun received 6.5 inches of rain in one day. But we were in paradise and made the most of it.

The rain on our balcony.

They even closed the beach because of rough waters.

Our trip was already awesome and a few special surprises during our stay made it even better...Coca Cola "light"

...A rose given to me at breakfast made by one of the wonderful resort employees (watermelon and radishes I think)

...a "Happy 6th Anniversary" chocolate cake with a bottle of white wine waiting in our room for us on our last night there

...and two swans gracing our bed.

The end...we'll maybe not. We're going back...SOON! Oh, and a big THANK YOU to Grandma Nagel and Rich for taking great care of Austin while we were gone. Love you guys and appreciate all you do for us!